Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Kerala has witnessed debates over the realisation for the quest for economic reforms and investment in recent times. Party idealogues differ as usual in most of the cases; some of them are for Special Econmic Zones while other are for incorporation of a separate law for SEZ. there are elements averred to the whole idea too. this is not a new battle ground. The state has witnessed bandhs, hartals and protest marches on the issues ranging from introduction of computers to hanging of Saddam Hussain. i wonder what we have achieved by all these protests over the decades? at the same time, respect is given to any individual to oppose and protestthe government policies. but kerala has become the paradise of the protest marches over the decades.

now the issue is with regard to SEZ and converting KSEB to a company. in both the cases, Government has taken interesting positions; while the rest of the country has opposed SEZ by forceful acquiring of the land, the State has approached the union government to relax the norms and allow them to take over 38000 acres of land required for SEZ formation. a Proletarian party in power asking for the forceful take over the land is something difficult to digest. everyone agrees that investment is a paramount essential for the development of Kerala. I too agree to that. but why dont the inverstor companies directly deal with the land owners and pay the market compensation?the role of the government shall be to facilitate the deal and not acquire the land for the companies. why dont these proletarian government (not convinced whether we can call them like that now) conduct a referrundum in the locality proposed? they are committed to the decentralised governance and this would be a grant opportunity for them validate the stand they have taken. Issues like toll bridge in Mattancherry, metro rail etc can be easily solved if they give the administrative powers to the local bodies to take a decision on these issues.

Another contentious issue is the company formation of KSEB. the usual taluk office picketing and dharnas are the order of the day to counter the move. CM says the company formation is accentulated for the prfiteering in the sector. As a customer to KSEB, i am not satisfied with KSEB service. I always wondered why i was forced to buy electricity from KSEB disallowing other companies to compete in the sector. this is hypocracy. majority of the keralites enjoy the fruits of liberalisation in the form of consumer goods, mobile phoes etc. why this word ' profit' has a demoral and demeaning essence in Kerala? give me options to enjoy the better services at the lowest rate!!!!